The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 2 (16 page)

What also rattled him was the oddly strong scent of mint he noticed surrounding the man as he stood there. It must have been some kind of deodorant or cologne, but such an intense man-made scent was enough to seriously impede kitchen work around here.

“I apologize, but have we met somewhere before?”

And before that, where would he have even heard about Maou, just another fast-food part-timer?

“No, we haven’t.”

The small man cracked a broad smile.

“However, I have been aware of you for a very long time before now.”

This is one of
those
customers, isn’t it? Maou had trouble shooing the impolite thought from his mind.

Then the man brightened up, suddenly remembering something.

“Ah, but look at me. Here, allow me to introduce myself.”

He took out a small metal holder from an inside pocket, removed a business card, and presented it. Maou nodded to him, accepted it with both hands, and then froze once he saw the position printed on it.

“The…manager of Sentucky Fried Chicken?”

A wave of nervous murmuring erupted across the MgRonald crew members.

“My name is Mitsuki Sarue. I thought I would introduce myself to our new neighbors.”

The man who called himself Sarue smiled lightly as he scratched his head.

“I apologize that I failed to pay a visit earlier. We’ve just been so busy with everything, you know.”

Maou could feel a spark fly from his mind’s tangled wiring.

“Hatagaya is such a wonderful neighborhood, isn’t it? Nestled right between a business and residential zone. Great crowds of potential customers. Lovely women everywhere. I must praise MgRonald’s great foresight in establishing a foothold here first!”

“…Huh?”

Chiho, standing behind Maou, had trouble believing this sight.

“But regardless, I finally found a spare moment just now during our thriving opening-day business to pay a visit. And a good thing, too, since it seems I am not intruding at all at the moment!”

Listening to this backhanded stab at MgRonald’s current emptiness, Maou felt a lightning crack of agitation echo across his mind like nothing experienced before in this world.

“…Yes, we are a tad slow at the moment. But all the more opportunity to get to know our neighbors better, of course.”

Maou was not the sort of Hatagaya station MgRonald afternoon shift supervisor/assistant manager to let his customer service–driven smile crumble at such an affront. Though it
was
starting to toe the line.

“Oh, not at all! Our shared customer base is always looking for the next novelty, you know. I’m sure things will be back to normal in no time.”

The smile was rewarded with another taunting declaration of their superiority, this one camouflaged in the mask of modesty.

If Kisaki were dealing with this, Maou could easily imagine her losing her cool and sledgehammering Sarue through the door. But with the location in Maou’s able hands, there was no way that would be forgiven. Kisaki was ultimately the one responsible for his actions, after all.

Maou praised himself for retaining his cool and refusing to take the bait.

“I would certainly hope so, sir. In fact, I look forward to great success for the both of us here by the station. And I’m sure that, when she comes back, our manager would be delighted to repay your visit with one of her own.”

So would you kindly get the hell out of here?
Maou politely weaved in between the lines.

The response seemed to take Sarue by surprise, but he nonetheless flashed an ironic grin.

“Well…! I suppose you certainly aren’t the person I know after all.”

He bowed his head down as he continued.

“It is a shame I couldn’t meet the beautiful manager I’ve heard so much about, but while I’m here, could I perhaps order a value meal to go? …Mm?”

His eyes stopped on Chiho, looking on with the rest of the crew members behind Maou.

“My, how pretty.”

“Huh?”

Within the instant Maou noticed where Sarue’s eyes were pointed, Sarue had all but teleported himself into position, right in front of her.

“Such a bright future this fetching young lady must have. It would simply delight me to purchase a meal prepared by you. You and those dainty hands of yours!”

The grimace on Chiho’s face was clear to everyone.

It didn’t take a genius to tell that Sarue was here to rile up his new competition. As if that weren’t enough, he was far overstepping his bounds with the crew on duty. Chiho began to open her mouth.

“Sasaki?”

Maou’s sharp, supervisor-accented voice was enough to close it.

“Would you mind taking this customer’s order, please?”

“…Certainly.”

Maou gestured to Sarue to come toward the register. Sarue took one more look at him before keeping his eyes squarely fixated upon Chiho until she accepted his order and left.

“
Someone’s
looking kinda peeved.”

Chiho was still sulking long after Sarue left.

“Why shouldn’t I be? That Sarue guy obviously came in here to pick on us. Doesn’t all that junk he said bother you at all, Maou?”

“Well, if it bothered you that much, that just shows you’ve grown to the point where you take real pride in your work. You’re not just here for the pay, in other words. I’m a lot happier about that, myself.”

“…Ugh.”

Chiho attempted to tighten her pout even further. The effect twisted her face instead, as if she was trying to avoid yawning.

“…You’re so dense all the time, but whenever something like this happens, it’s always like
this
with you.”

She muttered it to herself, too inaudible for Maou to hear, before turning her face away. She didn’t want him seeing her twisted expression, the result of being complimented when she wanted to get all riled up instead.

“If you let yourself stay angry at a difficult customer, that’s just bringing yourself down to his level. We just have to stick to our guns, you know? That’s what makes it all work out, and it lets you keep your pride, too. As long as they’re paying us, a customer’s a customer.”

Maou rubbed the bottom of his nose, a contrived attempt at an air of authority.

“How was that? Kinda assistant manager–like of me, huh?”

“Yeah, until you said
that
.” Chiho giggled.

“I guess I should apologize for not stepping in when he got all flirty, though. That must’ve sucked.”

“Like I care what that ankle-biter had to say to me.” Chiho shook her head as he bowed lightly toward her.

“Ankle-biter! That’s a good one.”

Maou clapped his approval as the rest of the crew nodded and laughed.

“Man, I’d really hate to work for a manager like that, though. Is he even treating this business seriously? With
that
kind of cologne, he’s probably gonna get a pile of complaints.”

The rousing pep talk belied an honest concern Maou had for his new rival. Retailers in the same shopping area had a way of influencing each other’s reputations, both for better and for worse. It wasn’t something he could revel in without pause.

“Do you think he deals with customers with those glasses on, too?”

Chiho interjected.

“Yeah, well, maybe he’s trying to avoid UV rays. Ashiya mentioned something like that to me once. Or maybe he’s got eye problems. Kinda hard to tell these days.”

Maou was more concerned about the weird…whatever it was
Sarue was trying to say, without actually saying it. But that had to wait. For now, they needed to get sales back to normal before closing.

“Right. Let’s get back to some serious selling.”

“You got it! I am
not
gonna let ’em win!”

The episode seemed to be behind them now, as Chiho led the surprisingly raucous round of cheering.

“Okay! Bring ’em on! One hundred, two hundred, I don’t care! It’s time to do some
work
!!”

“That’s the spirit, Chi. We’ll get some more concrete intel on SFC later on today, so let’s keep this machine running.”

“Concrete intel?”

Maou puffed out his chest and nodded at Chiho.

“Yep. Gotta make use of the tools at hand. Or your faithful generals, anyway. Besides, when I told him my salary was in jeopardy, he had no choice but to say yes.”

Even by evening, the waves of heat that lapped over Tokyo’s summer skies showed no sign of relenting.

As they left the office together, Rika asked Emi what her plans were for the evening. Emi hesitated before briskly dodging the question.

“I kinda have someplace to go.”

She was terribly harsh on Suzuno earlier in the morning, but there was every chance the girl decided to take action after all, despite her stern rebuke.

“Oh? That’s too bad. Something with your friend from this morning, maybe? Well, lemme know when you’re free, ’cause I still have this Takano Fruit Bar coupon to use, okay?”

“…Sure, I’ll find a free day pretty soon. Sorry.”

Visions of the colorful all-you-can-eat fruit paradise flashed across Emi’s mind. It took all of her willpower, alongside her sense of duty, to quell the thought.

It was understandable, then, that the disbelief was written clearly
on Emi’s face as they found Suzuno just outside the building, looking very different from the way she had in the morning.

“Hmm? Hey, isn’t that the girl you were with?”

For a second, Emi considered denying everything and dashing off.

“Emi! Have you finally completed your duties?”

Well, scratch that
, Emi thought as she ran up. Forced to accept the cards dealt, she dejectedly turned toward Suzuno.

She was sporting a refreshing water-print kimono, the kind one would expect to see in Kyoto travel pamphlets, along with a cross-shaped glass hairpin. In her hand were two bags—one paper bag from a store inside the Kakui Fashion Square building, the other one plastic, bearing a DEF Mart logo and apparently holding a pair of sandals.

A balloon was tied to her tote bag, which featured a Japanese-style print of a goldfish. Inside, Emi spotted a plastic mineral-water bottle and a Moonbucks Coffee tumbler.

“You bought all that, and you
still
couldn’t pick anything besides a kimono?”

Emi felt perfectly justified in saying that ahead of anything else. What on earth had happened to this poor girl, the girl who’d asked the Hero to slay the Devil King just half a day ago?

“As a member of the Church missionary force, it is part of my duty to examine the economic trends in our areas of operation. Besides, I noticed multiple women in similar kimonos passing by.”

“…You had that much money on you?”

“I did bring a sizable number of, ah, financial instruments along with me. I sold several examples to a store known as Mugi-hyo.”

That was that name of a well-known Tokyo pawnshop. But what would a high-ranking Church figure be doing with “financial instruments,” whatever those were? Emi doubted she had much idea of the yen’s value in modern Japan. Hopefully she didn’t flog off precious Ente Isla relics at bargain-basement prices.

Suzuno continued by taking a pass holder out from her bag, one with yet another fetching Japanese-themed pattern on it.

“And look! I purchased one of your ‘fare cards’! I, er, ‘charged’? Yes! I did that! All by myself!”

In a rare bout of excitement, she flashed the penguin logo on the card at Emi.

“…Well, good job.”

It was like congratulating your baby sister upon completing her first errand for Mom and Dad. Emi had to resist the urge to pat Suzuno on the head as Rika intervened.

“Is this your friend, Emi?”

“Uhm…”

She paused for a moment.

“Yeah, pretty much, I suppose.”

“Well, you don’t sound too sure.”

A selection of excuses flashed through her brain, all of which involved conjuring up more lies about her upbringing. As she pondered, Suzuno suddenly began introducing herself to Rika.

“How wonderful to meet you. I am Suzuno Kamazuki. I have lived in Tokyo for only a short period of time, but Emi has been an enormous help to me.”

“Oh. Neat! My name’s Rika Suzuki. I work with her, as you probably guessed.”

Emi remained silent, unable to grasp Suzuno’s intent.

“So, Kamazuki, did you move to Eifukucho?”

Rika asked the obvious question. If she and Emi were interrelated, it’d be natural to think they lived nearby each other.

But the query was enough to fill Emi with an impending sense of doom.

“No, my residence is in Sasazuka.”

“Sasazuka? Really? But you’re in Eifukucho, right, Emi?”

“Y-yeah, but…”

Emi tried to signal to Suzuno her trepidation, via her eyes. Suzuno’s were elsewhere.

“Emi struck up a conversation with me not long after I moved here. She was visiting the neighbors next door.”

“Oh, I see…but, wait, what were you doin’ in Sasazuka, Emi?”

Rika almost seemed ready to drop the topic before something caught her attention. Suzuno chose that exact moment to turn her
eyes toward Emi. Noticing this, Rika made a face like a chicken bone was stuck in her windpipe. Now the focus of the conversation was somewhere wholly different.